Reflections

Living for the Glory of God

The LORD said to Moses and Aaron,

“If someone has on his skin a scab or
pustule or blotch which appears to be the sore of leprosy, he shall be brought
to Aaron, the priest, or to one of the priests among his descendants, who shall
examine the sore on his skin....

“The one who bears the sore of leprosy shall
keep his garments rent and his head bare, and shall muffle his beard; he shall
cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean!’ As long as the sore is on him he shall declare
himself unclean, since he is in fact unclean. He shall dwell apart, making his
abode outside the camp.”

(Leviticus 13:1-2, 45-46)

Moses
and Aaron had a concern for controlling infectious disease. They did something
Public Health officials do to this day: they quarantined those who had deadly
diseases. With time the Israelites began to believe that God punished evildoers
by giving them diseases like leprosy. Sometimes you run into that kind of
thinking even today. But Jesus had a different approach:

“A leper came to him (and kneeling down)
begged him and said, ‘If you wish, you can make me clean.’ Moved with pity, he
stretched out his hand, touched him, and said to him, ‘I do will it. Be made
clean.’ The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean.

(Mark 1:40-42)

Jesus
will do that for you today. He always want the best for you.

Very
few people in America today have leprosy. Jealousy, hatred, and grudges are
another story. Are you as interested in being healed of those maladies as the
leper was of his?

Other
people are faced with things that are not their fault, such as prejudice,
sexual abuse, or bad family memories. Jesus also can heal these if you are
ready to have them healed.

Sometimes
because of confusion or wanting to hold on to bitterness people don’t want to
be healed. They may fear that forgiving makes it alright for whoever was
abusing them. But Jesus wants you healed.

It
boils down to how we accept the love of Christ in our lives. What is our part
in the relationship?

St.
Paul addressed this when he wrote,

So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you
do, do everything for the glory of God.

(I Corinthians 10:31)

Do
everything for the glory of God! Get up in the morning for the glory of God!
Give every day at work, give every moment, to the glory of God.

Think
what that would look like if we lived for the glory of God. One thing we would
quickly notice is how our political discourse would change. We would still have
divisions, as indeed good people will disagree, but we would settle them more
civilly. We would see God in our opponents.

We
would be very reluctant to go to war. We would realize that war entails killing
our brothers and sisters, and would do all we could to avoid it. When, as it
seems in our situation with ISIS, war was unavoidable, we would engage in war reluctantly
and attempt to achieve peace as soon as possible.

On a
more personal level if we live every day for the glory of God we will find our
lives more joyful and more meaningful.

So
Jesus heals us and we give every moment of the day and night to him. We get a
bargain.